Video - Mara River Crossing

A short video (by Heather) showing the action of one of the river crossings we witnessed. I can just watch this over and over again ! Wow ! You might also pick up me saying "...Unbelievable..." Just occasionally above the sound of the river, and wind on the camera microphone, you can hear the bleating of the wildebeest as they cross. What is also apparent in the video is the strength of the river current.

Serengeti !!!!!

Well, if the Ngorongoro Crater was impressive, our trip to the Serengeti was incredible. We flew to a dirt airstrip in the north very close to the Mara River, staying for three nights at a tented camp. Within hours of arriving, we were witnessing our first river crossing of hundred's and hundred's of wildebeest, and just a few zebra. The spectacle was repeated for us the following day. It took some patience on that first day -  we sat for maybe 2 1/2 hrs before the first wildebeest crossed. Other vehicles had given up and left the sighting. The wildebeest would move towards the river, concentrating their numbers, and then retrace their steps, obviously nervous. When the crossing did finally start, wildebeest in the distance trotted/cantered towards the river's edge to join the crossing. The actual crossing went on for maybe 30 minutes with a continuous stream of animals. A dream wildlife experience since childhood ! On our second day, our guide drove us to Seronera in central Serengeti. The drive was long (over 3 hrs) at some speed, and despite our growing concerns, as soon as we arrived we understood why he had brought us there. A recently burned area was covered, and I mean covered, in zebra and Grant's gazelle. Just incredible numbers of animals. No wildebeest at all - they would arrive later in the year as part of their annual migration in search of better grazing. As expected with all the prey animals, the predators were there as well - lion, cheetah, spotted hyena and leopard ! We were delayed starting back for the north, as we watched lion on a zebra kill - lionesses, cubs, and a large male lion arriving later. The predators were there in the north as well, and on every ridge we encountered another group of lion. Besides these flagship species of the Serengeti, we also encountered many other animals and birds - elephant; giraffe; eland; coke's hartebeest; topi; buffalo; oribi; klipspringer; dik dik; black-backed jackal cubs; griffon, white-backed and lappet-faced vultures, secretary birds, and many more. 

 

 

More Images - Ngorongoro Conservation Area !

 

Lake Manyara National Park and Ngorongoro Conservation Area

Following our Kilimanjaro trip, we headed off on our Tanzanian safari starting with an afternoon game drive in Lake Manyara N.P. and three nights, two days at Ngorongoro. Since childhood I have watched wildlife documentaries on these areas, and having grown up and worked in southern Africa I was definitely biased towards the south, not believing how incredible these areas could be ! My views have changed, and Tanzania has parks as good as the best southern Africa offers in my opinion. The density and variety of wildlife is just remarkable. Ngorongoro is just a surprising location in every aspect, the crater is beautiful and packed with wildlife. Almost around every corner, we encountered something new. At least on the surface, the tale of the contract and relationship of the Maasai with the conservation area sounds positive, and we hope this is a long term solution. On one day we encountered a herdsman grazing his cattle in the crater within sight of  lion and many many other mammals - wildebeest, zebra, Grant's and Thompson's gazelle and more. On our second day we encountered a clan, (or clans), of 22 spotted hyenas on a wildebeest carcass. I had only ever seen small groups of 2-5 before. A black-backed jackal bravely sneaked in for it's own share, before being chased off repeatedly. Over the two days, we encountered many lion with cubs, and two cheetah in the distance. One of the highlights of the crater is the black rhino, and when two of them finally revealed themselves from some dense reed beds, the safari  vehicles gathered to get a sighting. Probably 35 - 40 vehicles lined up neatly on the road side. It appeared all very controlled, with the guides behaving, although we had no idea what they might have been saying to each other in Swahili. The park is monitored intensively from ranger stations located at high points throughout the area, and it was encouraging to see the rhino and elephant, including a big tusker slowly grazing across the plain. We are all aware of the increasing poaching across all of Africa. Without even getting into the crater, the two lodges we stayed in were an experience on their own. Both were situated on the edge of the crater rim, with magnificent views across and into the crater.

Kilimanjaro 2014 !

We arrived at Kilimanjaro International Airport to chaotic immigration and customs queues after 15 hrs of flights via Amsterdam. The sun had set, so no visual of the mountain yet, and it was to be only after two nights on the mountain that we finally woke to see the clear mountain in front of us. We had started to question if we were even in the right place ! 

We hiked the 8 day Lemosho route, chosen for two reasons, extra days of acclimatisation, and supposedly, a less popular route. It seemed like many other groups had the same idea this year, and the first few camps were busy ~ 200 campers !

The hike was tough - a lot more difficult than we had expected. Long, long stretches of uphill - the first couple of days in muddy, wet, humid conditions. And cold at nights, never really got comfortable in our sleeping bags and didn't get much sleep either. We had a terrific team looking after us, organised via Adventure Dynamics. A total number of 17 including two guides, chef, waiter, tent crews, and porters. The head guide Raj had summited over 370 times, and Edwin, the assistant guide, over 500 times.

Well, I am not embarrassed to say that I didn't make it to the summit, but Heather and Maria did. They showed real determination, especially on the summit day. I confirmed what I had suspected on our previous trip to the Andes in 2008, that my body does not respond well to altitude. I started for the summit, but turned back after two hours. I had been experiencing severe headaches and blocked sinuses for most of the hike. It was a very long day for Heather, summiting after 8 hrs, heading back to our last camp - 3 hrs, an hour's rest, and then a 3 hr hike to the next camp down.

 

The terrain and scenery was just spectacular the whole route, and the photographs don't begin to convey the vista's.

Kilimanjaro Sep, 2014 - Hiking Preparation

Three weeks until our East African trip, and we (Heather, Maria, Tim) have been completing a number of day walks with weighted packs on the weekends, to try and prepare in some way for the ascent. Along with known areas, we are also investigating new areas of the Niagara escarpment and Bruce Trail we had not seen before. Dundas Valley, Crawford Lake, Rattlesnake Point, Kelso, Scotsdale Farm, Mono Cliffs and Boyne Valley. Spectacular scenery and rugged terrain in places, but also lots and lots and lots of mosquitoes ! We are sure though that our challenge will really be the altitude, and we have added a day to the regular Lemosho Route up the mountain to add to the acclimatization time. 

Cool, cool concept - Solar Roadways !

So, after a long, long delay, I am going to make an effort to more regularly update the blog with topics related to our own trips and topics of interest. Read about this cool concept last week which I hope will become more than just a prototype - www.solarroadways.com. Very interesting when I live in a country, Canada, obsessed with oil and natural gas development to the detriment of investment in other energy technologies.